Jimmy Swaggart, Televangelist and Preacher, Dies at 90

Jimmy Swaggart, the famed Pentecostal televangelist and preacher, has died. He was 90.

His family announced his death in a statement on Tuesday, July 1, on his Facebook page.

“Today, our hearts are heavy as we share that Brother Swaggart has finished his earthly race and entered into the presence of His Savior, Jesus Christ,” his family wrote. “Today was the day he has sung about for decades. He met his beloved Savior and entered the portals of glory. At the same time, we rejoice knowing that we will see him again one day.”

Weeks before his death, Swaggart went into cardiac arrest at his Baton Rouge, La. home on June 15, according to WWLTV.

Born in Ferriday, Louisiana, on March 15, 1935, Jimmy launched a full-time ministry in 1955, according to his website. Three years later, he released his first album, Some Golden Daybreak, and he went on to sell over 17 million records before founding the Family Worship Center in Baton Rouge in 1971.

His television career began in 1973 with the production of a weekly program titled The Jimmy Swaggart Evangelistic Association Presents Jimmy Swaggart, also known as the Jimmy Swaggart telecast, and he went on to build the empire known as Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, which also consists of the SonLife Broadcasting Network, which he launched in 2010.

According to the website, Jimmy has “preached the gospel of Jesus Christ on television longer than any other American evangelist in history.”

His ministry was rocked by a 1988 scandal when he was caught on camera with a New Orleans sex worker as the two entered a motel.

“Yes, he got knocked down, yes, we had a rather large bump in the road,” Jimmy Swaggart Ministries spokesperson Megan Kelly told WWLTV on June 16. “But he has come back and the comeback story has been far greater than anything else. The lives saved. The lives that have been touched through his ministry are endless.”

Kelly added that Jimmy’s health had been in decline for several years before his death.